Stephen Colbert, Kim Phan and priorites

The thing about inside jokes is that people from the outside might take it the wrong way.

I mean, me and my friends had our inside jokes, and when guests come by and chill, they don't even get it! Sometimes, me and my friends have to remind each other to tone down the inside jokes when non-insiders are around!

Last year, Mountain Down had a TV ad with Odd Future, a rap group that is known for attention-grabbing outrageous lyrics. Unlike "reality rap" artists who say controversial stuff to make a bigger point, Odd Future just says stuff just to be silly. I mean who would take statements like “KILL PEOPLE, BURN SHIT, F___ SCHOOL,” or “go skate, rape sluts and eat donuts.” literally?

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/the_most_racist_commercial_of_all_time/

So Odd Future's Mountain Dew ad had a goat in a police lineup along with members of Odd Future. The goat threatens an older  woman viewing the police line-up.

You can call that style of humor all kinds of things --- vulgar, lame, idiotic.

However, Dr Boyce Watkins called that ad "the most racist racist commercial in history" as if Mountaint Dew just plucked a random group of African-American extras to portray criminal suspects in an ad to mock African-Americans, nevermind that the ad's idea itself came from Odd Future's leader Tyler the Creator!

It was an inside joke for Odd Future's fans!

But again, inside jokes aren't going to be understood by ad viewers who aren't familiar with Odd Future and their style of humor!

----

So on to Stephen Colbert, a well-known comedian who portrays an idiotic character on his Comedy Central. His character says all kind of silly stuff, and ask all kinds of silly questions to guest to get them to say something stupid. It's all part of an act!

It's called satire.

Or as Rush Limbaugh would call it -- "illustrating the absurd by being absurd!"

So Stephen Colbert was making fun of Dan Snyder, the owner of the NFL team Washington Redskins.

As you may know, many Native Americans feel the term "redskins" is a racist slur. They point out that nobody dares to call a team "blackskins", so why should we accept the term Redskins.

So Dan Snyder is now starting an outreach group called "Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation" as a charity organization to assist Native Americans.

Well the name "Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation" a fuel for satire by Stephen Colbert.

By illustrating the absurd by being absurd, Colbert's character says

“I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.”

It was pure satire, illustrating Dan Snyder's absurdity by pointing how it would sound if another ethnic outreach group had an absurd title!

The same quote was Tweeted on Stephen Colbert's account (run by Comedy Central)

OMG, those who didn't get the inside joke over-reacted!

Internet pundit Suey Park started a #CancelCorbet campaign, acting as if Stephen Colbert was some anti-Asian bully making a joke ridiculing Asians, nevermind that it was obvious to the audience that it was a satire making fun of clueless racist people!


And guess what?

Suey Park doesn't speak for most Asian-Americans!

There were a whole bunch of Asian-Americans who think that Suey Park doesn't get satire and that she is overly sensitive!

 http://www.scpr.org/blogs/multiamerican/2014/03/29/16229/cancel-colbert-twitter-suey-park-hashtag/

"In an ideal world, anyone should be able to point out that yellow face is wrong,"  said Ti, who is Chinese-American. "It’s not hard."

But Ti questioned whether all Twitter campaigns are equally constructive. He for one, thought the campaign against The Colbert Report, was not worth all the angst.

“There is a part of Asian-American community that I wish would pick its battles a little bit more and focus,” Ti said.

 

 

Another sign that Suey Park doesn't speak for most Asian-Americans.


I have seen ZERO people on my facebook NewsFeed wanting to #CancelCobert, even though my facebook list includes graduates from McKinley High School (which has the largest Asian immigrant population in all of Hawaii, and whose district includes Chinatown and Ke'eaumoku [aka Koreatown])

Plus, my university (UH-Manoa) has a large Asian-American population, my state (Hawaii) has a large Asian-American population, and the same with my  various worksites (mostly schools, with their mostly  Japanese-American staff)


Apparently, all my Asian-American friends have more important priorities than Suey Park does.


-----------

If Suey Park, as well as other trolls like Brittney Cooper and Randa Jarrar were really about fighting racist, then why were they silent about the brutal beating death of Kim Phan?


Kim Phan, a  23-year old Vietnamese-American woman, was brutally beaten by 2 Latinas outside of a Orange County nightclub!

photo by Christine Cotter/AP

 (From left to right) Marisol Meza, Ruben Mata and Tony Galvan stop to look at a street-side memorial for Kim Pham. Local businesses and the city’s government have drummed up $10,000 for information leading to the arrests of all suspects.

 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/arrest-made-beating-death-kim-pham-santa-ana-nightclub-article-1.1590642

Many people are hesitant to call the incident a "hate crime". I'm not!

I will say that the beating death of Kim Phan was a hate crime committed by racist Latina bullies!  


It's no secret that there are Latino vs Asian gang rivalries in many inner-city neighborhoods in California. .

It's no secret that many Asian gangs have started for the purpose of protecting themselves from Latino gangs!

But many "progressives" are hesitant to say anything about Latino racists (besides a so-called "white Latino" in Florida)  because they don't want to be seen as anti-Latino!

No, they only want to push a narrative of "white racism" and go to great depths to portray white belly dancers and white rappers as "cultural appropriation".

Nevermind that in the 1992 LA riots, Korean stores got looted, and none of the looters were neo-Nazi skinheads nor neo-Confederate wanabees.They were looted by African-American and Latinos.

Nevermind that that an African-American teenager  Latasha Harlins, who was racially profiled and shot in the head, wasn't killed by a neo-Nazi nor the KKK. She was profiled and killed by a Korean store owner

Nevermind that an African-American teenager Cheryl Green was gunned down in cold blood by racist gang members. And no, the gang wasn't KKK nor Aryan Brotherhood!  It was a Mexican-American gang!


And again, back to Kim Phan, she wasn't attacked by neo-Nazis or the KKK!

Her death had NOTHING to do with so-called cultural appropriation. Her death had NOTHING to do with Stephen Colbert's satire. Her death had NOTHING to do with "white privilege".


If Suey Park, Brittney Cooper, Veronica Bayetti Flores and Randa Jarrar really cared about social justice, they would stand up for Kim Phan!

They would take a strong stand against violent  racist bullies (and not only the KKK, Aryan Brotherhood or the police)!

They would take a strong stand against real racism, instead of misinterpreting an inside joke from a satire show!

They would encourage cultural exchanges, instead of whining and hating on white belly dancers and white rappers winning awards!


But that's not how Suey Park, Brittney Cooper, Veronica Bayetti Flores  and Randa Jarrar roll!
 They are just trolls

(i know, it rhymes)

To hell with them!

Reader response on cultural appopriation

The past two days, I wrote 2 blog posts about this "cultural appropriation" nonsense.
 http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2014/03/cultural-appopriation-and-cultural.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2014/03/cultural-appopriation-and-cultural_19.html


Now, I got an email from a blog reader. It was in response to what I said about Randa Jarrar, the Arab-American women who wrote 2 articles stating she  "can't stand white belly dancers".  Jarrar claims it's bad that "white people" to participate in "non-white" cultural things because "whites oppress and steal cultures" and that it's OK for "non-whites" to participate in "white" cultural things because "white oppress and steal cultures"


It is classic!

There doesn't seem to be a place to leave comments on your blog, so I'm sending one here.  Your part about belly dancing being appropriated by the Arabs from other cultures got me thinking, didn't the Arabs appropriate the Old Testament (and much of the base content used in Islam) from Christianity and Judaism?  

Also, the Arabs occupied Spain and Portugal for 700 or so years, and I think invaded Sicily at some point as well, so even if whats her names point about Europeans not being able to use the cultural traits of those other Europeans colonized was valid, which it isn't, the same point could be made that Europeans of Spanish, Portuguese and Sicilian descent have the same relationship to Arabs as Jarrar says Arabs have to Europeans.  Also, although not the dominant group per se, the Arabs were also significant in the Ottoman Empire which controlled Greece and several other Eastern European countries for several hundred years. For that matter, Arabs were practicing slavery in Africa centuries before the Europeans discovered the Americas!

Thank you!


The problem with all these "cultural appropriation" whiners is that they say "learn your history", but it is them that need to learn history!

These "cultural appropriation" whiners think history is just about evil white Europeans picking on peaceful non-white peoples.

History is a lot more complicated than that! 


All over the world, tribes were conquering, killing (even to the point of genocide) and enslaving rival tribes.

What do you think the Aztecs, Zulus, Arabs, Turks, Incas, and a whole bunch of other tribes were doing before the Europeans came to their territory? 

They were raping and pillaging and enslaving and all the other bad stuff! Off course, many of those cultures also built great civilizations and contributed to education, art and a whole bunch of other good stuff! No culture is totally perfect nor totally evil!


The only thing got the Europeans to conquer the most was they were the first to make really advanced ships (to bring mass # of troops, settlers, etc to far, far, far away) and to use firearms and explosives so effectively. Also, they were able to run into isolated populations (ie Native Americans, Pacific Islanders) that haven't had the chance to gain immunity to diseases.

And it wasn't even all European populations, it was just a few European countries (ie France, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany) that did so!

Meanwhile, other European nations (ie Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Belarus) spent most of the last few centuries being being conquered by nearby European powers.

But OMG if someone of Latvian, Irish or Ukrainian descent decided to do something "non-white" like belly dance, have corn-rows or wear a kimono. Because chumps like Randa Jarrar and Brittney Cooper says  "history says white people are all oppressors who conquer, oppress and steal cultures"? Fool, you learn your history!

By the way, the only great powers in this world is USA (mostly white, but has a half-African descendant as president, plus has a growing non-white population), Russia (white-run nation gaining their power back), and China.  

Iran is a regional power scaring people, but is nowhere near taking over the world. It is mostly a threat to nearby nations, just so happen that one of them was a refuge for Holocaust survivors!  

India is a rising power, but they don't really care about expanding its military power to outside lands. They're more concerned about Pakistan being taken over by fanatics.

Other than Russia, the rest of Europe has no real military power. It's mostly nations free-loading off US might!  European empires are over! All they got left are a few territories that don't even have enough natural resources to prosper in the modern world! And even then, some of those territories have their own sovereignty movement (ie. French-run Tahiti) which can make it likely that the Europeans will continue to retreat even more!

Sheesh, even North Korea (the poor half of Korea) is a much bigger threat than all these European empires of the past.  Nobody is scared of Netherlands or Portugal anymore! But people fear a North Korean attack!

So Randa Jarrar and Brittney Cooper need to learn their history and learn the present! Europeans were only conquering far away lands for just a few centuries (compared to multiple millenniums, most of which, the Europeans were far behind Middle East and East Asia in advancement, power and prestige) and are basically retreating to their own shell (with Russia as the only exception).

And even in the US, white power has declined. Randa Jarrar and Brittney Cooper can point out some stories of hate crimes, but most crime is where the predator and victim are the same race. I discussed that issue at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-fear-of-other.html.

At this point, white belly dancers and white rappers just want to have fun. Just like how Aloe Blacc and Darius Rucker just want to have fun in mostly Euro-American music genres.

Let's all enjoy each other's culture's.

As Rodney King said "Can't we all just get along?"

Cultural appopriation and cultural integration (part2)

Yesterday, I had a blog post about "cultural appropriation" which is a code word for "how dare those white folks use cultural practices from non-white cultures"
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2014/03/cultural-appopriation-and-cultural.html


Well, lo and behold, Randa Jarrar the same racist punk who didn't like "white belly dancers" is back at it again.
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/18/i_still_cant_stand_white_belly_dancers/

Here is her sorry excuse for "logic"

“So black women can’t be ballerinas?” If black women were part of a dominant culture that had colonized Europe starting at the Italian renaissance, and later colonized France and Russia, and if, after all that, black ballerinas danced in bikini tops, then yes, this argument would work. But it doesn’t.
“I’m Egyptian and I love white belly dancers!” Good for you. Come live in America for 23 years, have people throw lit cigarettes at you and make fun of your mother’s accent and sneer at your muhajjaba aunt and try to deport your brother, see a white woman be applauded in a bar while dancing to “Walk Like an Egyptian” in a “Nefertiti hat,” and if, after that, you still feel the same way, cool, write your own opinion piece about it.
“You’re an idiot! America is a melting pot!” Yes, America pretends to be a melting pot, but this means everyone has to adhere to a cultural norm, and in the process, minorities are negated and further made invisible.
“It’s appreciation, not appropriation!” No. Please read this for more about appreciation vs. appropriation.
“But Korean tacos! Mixing cultures is delicious!” Again, if the person making and serving those tacos is from a dominant culture that, for centuries, colonized Korea and Mexico, and then served those tacos to you in a conical Asian hat and a mariachi outfit, with a bikini top underneath, then, yeah, this argument would work. Again, it doesn’t.
”You’re a racist!” Please, save us both time, watch this, and learn how that’s not possible.
“You’re appropriating white culture by using a computer right now!” I can’t even honor this level of idiocy and entitlement with a response.

In other words, Randa Jarrar is saying "how dare you ask me to be consistent. How dare you ask me to stop using double standards?"


Randa Jarrar is a racist punk who stereotypes all European-Americans, as if they are all the same. She thinks that just because a few "white" kids who teased during childhood, she assumes all "white people" are out to humiliate "her people".

This so goes against Martin Luther King's plea to judge people based not on the color of their skin, but by the content of their character!

But to Randa Jarrar, all Europeans are out to conquer and oppress, nevermind that countries like Lativa, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, Slovenia and Ireland HAVE NEVER CONQUERED A SINGLE NON-WHITE LAND!

But if any of their descendants do anything non-European, Randa Jarrar will accuse them of "cultural appropriation" all because a bunch of British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and Germans were conquering large land masses before our generation were even born?

That's as stupid as saying "the Koreans bombed Pearl Harbor". That's as stupid as Floyd Mayweather telling Manny Pacquaio to "make sushi". 

Meanwhile, the Arabs (Randa Jarrar's people), the Aztecs, the Zulus, and so many other ethnic tribes have been conquering and oppressing other tribes for years until the Europeans did the same exact thing to them! 

But all that reality gets ignored in this politically correct world, in which "white people" are made to feel unearned guilt in participating in "non-white" activities.

Nevermind that Macklemore won an award in a genre that borrowed HEAVILY from Kraftwerk (a German EDM pioneering group that inspired Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaata, and Dr. Dre...........ask them if you dont believe me) 

Randa Jarrar calls any arguments against her "whitesplaining" (even though in my case, my German last name came from my mom, and my dad is not only from Mexico, but is a dark brown native Mexican!)


Just like I mentioned in a previous blog post..................... just like how NFL star Richard Sherman feels that calling him a "thug" is just another way of calling him the N-word.................................

................................words like  "cultural appropriation" and "whitesplaining" is just another way to call someone a "f------ haole" or a "white cracker m-----f-----"

Again, this goes against the spirit of Martin Luther King's dream of having people judged NOT on the color of the skin, but by the content of their character!

Sadly, towards the end of King's life, he was seen as an "Uncle Tom" by militant activists because of  his nonviolent tactics, and his refusal to hate European-Americans!  Nevermind that his ways saved our country from a bloody race war!

But people like Randa Jarrar, Brittney Cooper, Veronica Bayetti Flores and other scumbags don't want a post-racial society, they want racial conflict!

They pick easy targets like "white belly dancers", Macklemore, Miley Cyrus, Lorde .........all of whom would never be defended by the white nationalists nor the Fox News crowd. 

They are afraid to pick fights with someone like Eminem who is great at the art of the  insults, and has D-12,  Dr Dre and 50 Cent to back him up! 

But their bullying ways will come back to haunt them!  

However, just dont take my word for it.

Here are some classic comments to Randa Jarrar's latest piece of trash.

 

lincolncat

Notice how she ignores all the reasonable arguments against her first piece and responds only to the ridiculous, irrational reactions.  Arabs have also enslaved and colonized and appropriated, as people point out.  Some white women who 'belly dance' study the culture and music and don't confuse gauzy pants and blue eye shadow with genuine Middle Eastern dance attire.  But never mind.  Jarrar is determined to be the victim while all white belly dancers are the oblivious cultural  appropriators.  So let her.

Khawer

A few questions. Do you see a difference between appropriation and cultural exchange? The latter has been happening for as long as us humans have had cultures to exchanged.

Also, some context would be nice. Belly Dancing is originally an art form of the Dom people. The Dom people are "gyspys" related to the Roma people in Europe. Both are originally South Asian.

Any qualms about Arabs "appropriating" a cultural tradition that is not theirs? Or is that cultural exchange?

What about the Arab appropriation of the Indian numeral system? I can't tell you how many times I've heard Arabs boast of inventing the zero. Well no, you didn't. You borrowed it from the Indians. Which is normal, and its how knowledge works. But would you consider that appropriation?

 Quite seriously, there are more important things to worry about for us people of color than white women wearing Saris and Bindis and performing Belly Dance.

You've given plenty of examples of actually racist behavior in this essay too. And I'm 100% in agreement with your analysis that PoC participating in the dominant white culture is not the same as appropriation. I just don't agree that Belly Dancing or wearing Saris is appropriation. If it is, so was Belly Dancing when it was adopted by Arabs from the Dom people.

Randy Hauser

@Khawer  That was one of the responses from the original article that she neglected to respond to.  The author is, in effect, a troll.

camthought

Dear Mrs. Jarrar,

I only have one complaint to the responses you've included in your defense of your previous article. I am dismayed by the way you refused to consider the notion that you are being racist.

You liked to a video on "reverse racism" which is a BS term in itself, something I feel you and I could agree on. Racism is racism, it doesn't change the fact if it is a white man hating a black man for the color of his skin, or a black woman hating a hispanic woman for the color of her skin, or arabic peoples hating jewish peoples, or Ukrainians hating Russians. If you look at another human being and you say, "how dare you do that, you're not the same race as me" you are indeed being racist.

There's no "reverse" to the matter, it is racism. And the fact that you took criticism of your own racism, and said that it is not possible because- I assume since you didn't personally address the issue- you have darker skin then the people you are attacking, proves that the crux of your argument hinges on the notion that race defines culture.

You, several times in this article, explain why you can't stand a certain race doing a cultural dance, due to the fact that individuals of that race have, in turn, treated you cruelly due to your ancestry. This is textbook stereotyping of race, and the fact that you couldn't brave addressing this notion in a rational way taints your entire argument with the racial divisiveness that your title promises.

I am not addressing an issue of privilege. I am not addressing the appropriation of cultures. I am addressing the most fundamental definition of racism. You judge other's in a way that you have yourself been judged, by the color of their skin and the history of your ancestors. I am sorry if you refuse to see the fact, but you are a racist.

AMEN to all that!

Just don't expect the Randa Jarrars or the Brittney Coopers of the world to respond with real logic.  Just more abuse of sarcasms, race cards and double standards!

Some say "don't feed the trolls"  I say "feed the trolls with a taste of their own medicine"  The more people who do that, the less people who want to start trolling!

Cultural appopriation and cultural integration

 There are some minority activists who think it's racist for whites to be into non-white things! (get a dictionary!)  

They call the act of Euro-descendants doing non-European things "cultural appropriation"! They act as if that's a bad thing!


I already discussed black supremacist punk Brittney Cooper in two blog post, with her getting all pissy just because Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke and Macklemore got some recognition in the R&B/ hip-hop genre!
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2014/02/music-and-cultural-segregationists.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-saloncom-lost-its-way.html

I also mentioned Veronica Bayetti Flores calling Lode "racist" for (gasp) using a few hip-hop phrases in a song.
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/12/oh-lorde.html


But it doesn't stop there.


Salon also had an article by some Arab-American woman who doesn't like European-American women doing belly dancing!
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/04/why_i_cant_stand_white_belly_dancers/



And now I saw this article being posted on facebook.

 http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/09/cultural-exchange-and-cultural-appropriation/

Many a white person sporting dreadlocks or a bindi online has taken cultural appropriation to mean the policing of what white people can or can’t wear and enjoy.

Having considered their fashion choices a form of personal expression, some may feel unfairly targeted for simply dressing and acting in a way that feels comfortable for them.

The same can be said for those who find criticisms of the Harlem Shake meme and whatever it is Miley Cyrus did last month to be an obnoxious form of hipsterdom – just because something has origins in black culture, they say, doesn’t mean white artists can’t emulate and enjoy it.
And then there are people who believe that everything is cultural appropriation – from the passing around of gun powder to the worldwide popularity of tea.

They’re tired of certain forms of cultural appropriation – like models in Native American headdresses – being labeled as problematic while many of us are gorging on Chipotle burritos, doing yoga, and popping sushi into our mouths with chopsticks.

They have a point.

and this

People of all cultures wear business suits and collared shirts to survive. But when one is of the dominant culture, adopting the clothing, food, or slang of other cultures has nothing to do with survival.

So as free as people should be to wear whatever hair and clothing they enjoy, using someone else’s cultural symbols to satisfy a personal need for self-expression is an exercise in privilege.

and this

People shirk “ethnic” clothes in corporate culture, but wear bastardized versions of them on Halloween.

There is no exchange, understanding, or respect in such cases – only taking.

and this

Don’t overstay your welcome. Don’t pretend to be a part of the household. Don’t make yourself out to be an honored guest whom the householders should be grateful to entertain and educate for hours on end.

(this was in response to some "white" guy in a Nigerian ceremony.


 --------


Well, I'm going to jump in and posted this response to that article (and my response already appeared on facebook).

 This article claims" Regardless, this is not an article asking you to over-analyze everything you do and wrack yourself with guilt." but the rest of the article is telling people to do just that!

I'm tired of this whining about "cultural appropriation"!

People adapt each other's cultural habits and if you got a problem with that, you are racist scum!

After all, this is a world where a man of African and Asian ancestry excell at a Scottish game.

This is a world where 2 African-American sisters from Compton excell at a French game!

This is a world where South Koreans win break-dance competitions and a South Korean had the top rap song of 2012!

This is a world in which the Maoris have a major role in a sport invented by the British!

This is a world in which an African-American won a Grammy in the country music award.

This is a world in which a Native Hawaiian is one of the top players in the Canadian Football League! (that's my UH classmate from my undergrad years--- Chad Owens)

This is a world in which a man of African and Samoan ancestry is one of the biggest action movie stars in the world.

And this is a world in which the language I'm using (English) use words from Latin, German, Greek, Hebrew and a whole bunch of other world languages.

Anyone who got a problem with that is racist scum!

WORLDWIDE CULTURAL INTEGRATION FOREVER!

I also posted this

 Remember when Richard Sherman said calling him a "thug" is like using the N-word?

Well, the words "cultural appropriation" is just another way to say "you f------- haole" or "you white cracker m------f---------".

Look, anyone who has a problem with Macklemore winning an award in the rap genre is racist scum!

Anyone who has a problem with Katy Perry wearing a kimono, you are a racist scum!

And dont give me this "privilege" crap, since almost none of you experience being the only part-Latino kid in a Hawaii classroom with mostly Asians and Pacific Islanders, (I did) so damn effing right I know what it's like to be a minority! (by the way, most of my friends are Asians and Pacific Islanders, I am NOT from East LA, I am NOT from Spanish Harlem, I am NOT from Latin America)

But this whining about "cultural appropriation" needs to stop. If Tiger Woods is allowed to excell at a Scottish game, and Serena/Venus Williams are allowed to excell at a French game, but you're damn effing right that European-Americans shall be allowed to dress in non-European clothes and partake in hip-hop music (which by the way was influenced by German EDM innovators Kraftwerk ........ just ask Afrika Bambaatta, Grandmaster Flash and Dr Dre if you dont believe me!")

WORLDWIDE CULTURAL INTEGRATION FOREVER!

I'll also say this - I may have an ancestry mix of Latin American (Mexican, Puerto Rican) and European (German, Spanish, Portuguese).........................but you know what? I REFUSE TO BE LIMITED TO THOSE CULTURES!

My favorite foods are mostly Asian!

My favorite music (hip-hop)  is mostly African-American!

My college's football team is mostly Polynesian! 

Anyone got a problem with any of that? SCREW YOU! 

I refuse to be defined solely as a member of a race or ethnic group!

I demand to be seen as an individual human being!  

I demand to be judged on the content of my character, not on the color of my skin! 

And eff anyone who whines about "cultural appropriation"

It's time more of us have guts to say these things!

Russia and the Winter Olympics

1 week ago, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia came to an end.

The location in Sochi was questionable from the start. People usually view Russia as being as nothing but Siberia, a large frozen part of Russia.

But Sochi is in southern Russia, near the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Putting a Winter Olympics near Georgia (the country) is almost like putting a Winter Olympics in Georgia (the US state).


Plus, a few years after Sochi got awarded the Olympics, there was a border clash between Russia and Georgia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia-Georgia_war


That already gave fears of terrorism landing in Sochi.

Add to the fact the Sochi is also not that far from Chechnya, a mostly Muslim region that rebelled against Russian rule.

Some Chechen descendants did bomb the Boston Marathon last year, which I commented on at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/05/boston-marathon-terrorist-attack.html

Only a few months before the Winter Olympics, there was two bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volgograd_bombings


But luckily, the Sochi games went on without any terrorist incidents


-------------

However, there was another controversy that came up.

Last year, Russia passed a law banning any propaganda promoting "non-traditional sexual relationships" towards minors, which in effect, censored any pro-homosexuality beliefs in the presence of minors. Basically, that means any public mentions of homosexuality, whether via media or via outdoor protests are banned.

There was talk of boycotting the Sochi Olympics. But there wasn't much support for that idea. Since the Olympics are already planned far in advance, the idea was then to defy Russia's anti-LGBT law.

Many European and North American presidents/prime ministers/etc refused to attend the Sochi Olympics but did send a delegation of LGBT ex-athletes as a message of defiance.


There were a few LGBT athletes who did perform (and win) in the Olympics without incident.


But it's not over. Russia hosts the men's soccer World Cup in 2018. Qatar host the same tournament in 2022. Both nations have anti-LGBT laws.

There is now a movement out there that will demand international sports tournaments (ie Olympics, World Cup, etc) to no longer award the games to countries that has laws that officially persecute the LGBT populations.

This comes after decades of anti-apartheid boycotts against apartheid-era South Africa. This also comes after the 2012 Olympics which required all participating countries to have both male and female participants, with Saudi Arabia being one of the last countries to comply.

Not that long ago, the homosexuality was considered just a "fringe" thing, something that needs to be kept in the closet.  The idea of same-sex marriage was seen as "bizzare" as equivalent to "marrying my table".  Times have changed this millennium.  Several countries allow for same-sex marriage. Some, like USA and Mexico, leave the issue up to the states to decide.

But change in attitudes spread slowly. Places like Russia, as well as many Middle Eastern, African, South Asian and Caribbean nations are not accustomed to the idea of LGBT rights. To them, it's just a "fringe" thing promoted by the decadent West.   Not only that, those nations have a long history of violence against anyone with a different religion or from a different tribe, so a "fringe" idea like LGBT acceptance has provoked the same violent response.

At this point, a time will come when those places either change or not be awarded hosting rights to the Olympics.

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Another issue in Russia is the female punk rock band Pussy Riots. The band had already angered many by their impromptu performances in Russian Orthodox churches, protesting their leadership's ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The band members spent time in jail but were recently released. They were going to set up another impromptu performance in Sochi, but they were attacked by a group of para-military thugs.
 http://www.thenation.com/blog/178481/cossacks-play-soldiers-sochi
http://www.thenation.com/blog/178445/sochi-2014-where-pussy-riot-gets-whipped-cossacks

As for Pussy Riot, the group, clad in their trademark pink balaclavas, was attempting to play a song underneath a flashy sign advertising the Sochi Games. The tune was probably going to be a protest track they had pledged to perform in Sochi called “Putin Will Teach You How to Love the Motherland.” They were never able to play a note.

At least ten Cossacks tore off their signature masks and trashed their instruments, with at least one reported to have used pepper spray. One male PR supporter had his face bloodied. Then the Cossacks pulled out the whips. One group member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, was whipped while lying on the ground. Tolokonnikova was one of the two Pussy Riot members who had spent eighteen months in prison for playing a “punk prayer” in a Russian Orthodox temple. It reportedly took three minutes for the police to arrive on the scene and no arrests were made.

Readers need to understand that three minutes, in the context of a highly militarized Olympic fortress is an eternity. One can ask Vladamir Luxuria about that. Luxuria, an Italian politician who was the first openly trans member of a European Parliament, was arrested last weekend in Sochi. Her crime was unfurling a banner that read, “Gay is OK”. Like other attempted protesters, she was arrested in an eye blink.

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The Sochi Olympics was supposed to raise the status of Russia. It was supposed to show the world that Vladimir Putin is "The Man".

So yeah, the games went on with being bombed by terrorists. But it did a violent side with the Pussy Riot getting attacked by street thugs.


Hockey is the ultimate symbol of "play battle" in the Winter Olympics. It was supposed to be Russia's time to shine on their home turf.  Neither the men's or women's hockey teams won any medal. Major humiliation for Russia. 


Meanwhile, Ukraine has a new leader who, unlike the previous leader, refuse to be compliant towards Russia.

Ukraine has a mix of ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians.  Ethnic Russians are fearing they would be targets of hate crimes, which motivated Vladimir Putin to send Russian troops into Ukraine after the Winter Olympics was over.

What next?

The US isn't going to send troops. The people of the US are tired of seeing troops sent to foreign battle.

Will this be the time when Russia takes over a neighboring country and regains the old empire. Or will it be a time when Ukraine stays defiant and defeat the invaders?

Only time will tell.

crowds and negligence at M Nightclub

In most buildings, you'll see a sign mentioning how many people can be inside at one time.

This is done to make sure that in case there is an emergency, it wouldn't be too crowded as people try to evacuate.  If it is too crowded and people are leaving at the same time, there will be pushing and shoving. The smaller and slower individuals would end up getting trampled under the mess.

This is why most nightclubs would make latecomers wait in line outside even after the club is open.  If it is too crowded, they usually make the latecomers wait until some people inside leave, then let a few more latecomers in.

But M Nightclub (in Honolulu's Restaurant Row) just lets everyone in, regardless of how crowded it is inside.


I will fax the following letter to the Honolulu Fire Department's Code Enforcement Office
fax #  808-723-7179 (no email listed on the HFD's website https://www1.honolulu.gov/hfd/deptprev.htm

From: Pablo Wegesend

To: Honolulu Fire Deparment Code Enforcement Office

                I am writing this letter about a possible violation of indoor room capacity at M Nightclub, which is located at 500 Ala Moana Boulevard.

            I was a customer at M Nightclub on Saturday, February 15, 2014.  I entered the nightclub when it opened at 10pm. By midnight, the indoor section was so crowded that people had to push or shove in order to either

·         Get to the restroom

·         Get to the bar

·         Just to even exit.

While this was going on, the staff was still letting more customers in. At the same time, some customers who wanted to exit the nightclub from the outside lanai were barred from doing so by the bouncers. Even after the customers told the bouncers that it was nearly impossible for them to get through the crowd to exit via the front entrance, the bouncers wouldn’t budge. And yet, the club was still letting more people into the nightclub.

It was too the point where I stayed in the nightclub’s outside lanai until there was a slight thinning of the crowd at 2:40 am that I even attempted to leave the nightclub.

I have been going to various nightclubs over the decade, and this was the only nightclub that displayed such negligence in crowd management. Also, I remember visiting the same facility when it used to be Oceans808, and it didn’t have displayed the same negligence in crowd management that exists now as M Nightclub.

As fire safety officials, you know what can happen when such an overcrowded facility experiences a fire, gunshots, explosions, or gang fights. People would be pushing and shoving their way out of the facility and those individuals who are smaller or slower can easily get trampled to death in such situations.

Again, I have about a decade of experience visiting nightclubs, but never in my life, until my 2/15/14 visit to M Nightclub did have I felt such anxiety about overcrowding in such facilities.

  
I also informed the HFD officials that this letter will be posted on my blog and can be read anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

Ka Leo's Free Speech Forum

Earlier today, at UH-Manoa's Campus Center Executive Dining Room, the Ka Leo O Hawaii (the university's newspaper) sponsored a forum on free speech issues.

This was in response to last semester's controversy over the Ka Leo sponsored mural surrounding the renovated parts of Campus Center.

Well, one of the murals protested against the new telescope (sponsored by UH) on Mauna Kea. The Ka Leo staff covered up the written message on that mural! That obviously pissed off a lot of campus activists.

But that's not the only problem that Ka Leo O Hawaii had with the issue of free speech. I had a problem with the Ka Leo O Hawaii's editors when I submitted an opinions article arguing for the need to have the campus security armed. That article got rejected for being "too paranoid"

I blogged about those issues at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/10/problems-at-ka-leo-again.html

 ===========================


The discussion panel included Jeff Portnoy (UH regent/lawyer/sportscaster), Gerald Kato (UH journalism professor) and Roger Fonseca (ACLU member).

The host was faculty advisor James Gonser. Also there was Ka Leo O Hawaii editor-in-chief Bianca Bystrom Pino.

Of course, the forum stated off with the controversy over the murals.

Jame Gonser showed a KITV news clip about the mural controversy.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kctg2ZAIV44


Then the artists in the mural spoke up.

They were ANGRY about a UH staff member confronting them while they were painting the mural.  It was mentioned that it was a European-American male staff member who got in the face of a  Native Hawaiian female artist. So that brought up the racial and sexism issue.

They were ANGRY that the even though the forum was about their mural, that the artists themselves weren't invited on the discussion panel. 

They were ANGRY that the university was disrespecting the Native Hawaiian culture, mentioning the Mauna Kea telescope construction desecrating their land, and also mentioning past battles Ka Leo O Hawaii had with Native Hawaiian activists.

One of them said about the Ka Leo O Hawaii, that the newspaper's name is Hawaiian for The Voice of Hawaii but that they didn't respect the voices about UH students.

---

Then...........................................it was my turn to speak.

I stood up and  mentioned that around the same time the mural controversy was going on, I put up flyers around campus stating this

Ka Leo

Doesn’t just censor murals

They also censored an opinion article

expressing the need for armed campus security

The Editors refused to publish

saying it was too paranoid!

Their faculty advisor is a gun-phobic person

who says an armed campus security is “scary”

I think what’s even scarier is if an incident happen

and the campus security can’t do anything but wait for help

Read and judge for yourself!

Within that same flyer, I put the QR code and tiny url for my blog post  http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/10/problems-at-ka-leo-again.html

When I spoke, I was standing up, raise my arm up high with the flyer in my hand.

I told the audience I dont have extra copies (and apologized for that) but that they come to me after the forum so they can scan the QR code or copy the tiny url listed.

At that point, I was on a roll. In a very loud agitated voice, I mentioned what they flyer was about.

I mentioned that my article on having armed campus security was rejected because the editors said it was "too paranoid".

I mentioned that as being a case of the Ka Leo rejecting an article because it didn't conform to popular opinion. 

I emphasized that my article had citations to back up the facts mentioned in the story.  I emphasized that lower-level editor Doorae Shin already corrected whatever grammar mistakes were there. I emphasized that the article didn't slander anyone and wasn't written for the sake of offending anyone.

Then I went back to what one of the mural artists said about the Ka Leo O Hawaii editors,  stating that the editors are violating the spirit of the newspaper being the voice of the students at the University of Hawaii.

I also went back to the point Jeff Portnoy said earlier denouncing any act that censors a political opinion.

Then I emphasized again that the Ka Leo O Hawaii editors were being hypocritical in claiming for free speech but yet refused to publish an article expressing an unpopular opinion that goes against the lefty-pacifist viewpoint that is popular on campus.!

I said all of this in a loud, agitated, passionate voice!

---

While I was speaking, I could see some of the mural artist nodding in agreement with what I said.

While I was speaking, I could see the cameras pointed at me and flashing. I also saw a video camera pointing at me. ( a YouTube moment?)

----

Then I was done. James Gonser, the forum's host (and a person criticized on the flyer and my blog post) mentioned "he's referring to an article that he sent that didn't get published".

Then the Ka Leo O Hawaii's Editor-in-Chief (Bianca Bystrom Pino, whom I never met before) stating there was a meeting on my article with the editing team, and that claimed it wasn't rejected for political purposes, but that it needed revisions (which I didn't agree with and refused to make).

It was so obvious that Pino was lying when she stated that the article wasn't rejected for political purposes. It was so obvious that I felt I didn't even have to point it out the audience!  I pretty much trusted the audience to know Pino is practicing the usual cover-up tactics that we usually associate with corrupt politicians who got caught.

-----

Jeff Portnoy stated that university newspapers in general are in a bind, because they have more restrictions placed on them as compared to regular newspaper. 

Portnoy also stated that from a legal standpoint, university newspapers (or any newspaper) are not obligated to print anything that comes to them.

While Portnoy was correct from a legal standpoint, it is damn obvious that Ka Leo O Hawaii (um........The Voice of Hawaii) was violating the spirit of their name when they refused to print an opinion article because it was "too paranoid".

Then another panel member (I already forgot if it was Kato or Fonseca) responding to Portnoy's point about the bind the university newspapers are in. That panel member stated that being that Ka Leo O Hawaii is a part of a government agency, that they have to post various viewpoints, otherwise it would look like the government is endorsing one viewpoint over another. 

----

Afterwards, the discussion moved on to other topics. Hawaiian Studies professor Jon Osorio spoke about the mural controversy. Then Bianca Bystrom Pino showed a video about a Free Speech that was posted on campus where people could write whatever they wanted. (I only found out about the poster after the fact).

Then it was over.

-----

As for the reaction to my speech, a couple sitting in the back of me asked to look at my flyer. I showed them flyer, and one of them scanned the QR code. 

Afterwards, I talked to Sarah Yap, one of the UH Campus Center staff members who worked in the Student Activities office. I already had a previous discussion with her about my flyer and my conflict with the Ka Leo editors.  Yap said it was a good thing that I went to the forum and spoke up about this issue.

----------------

Last semester, I took a class on Intellectual Freedom. The campus mural controversy came up in that class on the day the controversy started.

I was still in the middle of deciding how shall I respond to the editor's rejection. With the mural controversy going on, I decided to refuse to conform to the editor's suggestion and posted the flyers around campus.

So, was I going to bring that topic up in the Intellectual Freedom class?  Then I thought "with those flyers all around campus, someone would bring up the topic in class. I'll let them bring up the topic first" . But nobody did!

Oh well!